


New Life

by elstarwarslover



Series: The Other Other Epilogues [10]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Chatlogs, Does it count as Hurt/Comfort if the person who was hurt does most of the comforting?, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:33:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22125652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elstarwarslover/pseuds/elstarwarslover
Summary: Terezi and Vriska are on their way back to Earth C, but they're interrupted by the biggest villain yet—their own inability to communicate their emotions effectively!
Relationships: Terezi Pyrope/Vriska Serket
Series: The Other Other Epilogues [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1594504
Kudos: 9





	New Life

TEREZI: SO  
TEREZI: 4M I GO1NG TO H4V3 TO B3 TH3 ON3 TO S4Y 1T??  
VRISKA: Say what?  
TEREZI: YOU’R3 TOT4LLY CRUSH1NG ON 4R4D1A  
VRISKA: !!!!!!!!  
VRISKA: Okay, may8e you’ve got a point.  
VRISKA: She’s cute, ok8y???  
TEREZI: NOT S4Y1NG 1 BL4M3 YOU, JUST W4NT TO M4K3 SUR3 W3’R3 ON TH3 L3V3L  
VRISKA: Yeah, yeah, you got me.  
VRISKA: Happy?  
TEREZI: V3RY

The two of them fly in silence for a bit. Terezi seems to know the way back to Earth C, which is good because Vriska has yet to see it. It’s somewhere in a universe far far away; to Vriska it seems too far away. She’s been down that road before, and it bit her in the ass. Why should it be different now?

VRISKA: So, um.  
VRISKA: I got your text.  
TEREZI: OH  
TEREZI: SO YOU D1D  
TEREZI: 4NY CH4NC3 W3 COULD FORG3T 4BOUT 1T 3NT1R3LY??  
VRISKA: I.  
VRISKA: What?  
VRISKA: Why would I want to?  
TEREZI: TO S4V3 M3 TH3 3MB4RR4SSM3NT OF H4V1NG TO R3L1V3 1T  
VRISKA: And make me live the rest of our unnatural lives dy8ng of curiosity?  
TEREZI: TH4T W4S TH3 PL4N  
VRISKA: Rude.  
TEREZI: Y3P

A volley of lost souls fly by them, and Vriska fist bumps an Equius on his way down. Well, fist bumps his unconscious, floating body on its death spiral towards a ceaselessly hungry black hole. Same difference, really. After a minute, she recognizes where they are. In the trolls’ session, this had been where they fought the black king, where they had tried to claim the Ultimate Reward, and where everything had fallen apart for them. In this session, though, it appears to be where everyone else had gone onto their new lives without her.

TEREZI: 1 UM  
TEREZI: 1 GOT H3R M3MOR13S B4CK BY TH3 BY  
VRISKA: Did they help?  
TEREZI: NO  
TEREZI: TYP1C4L, 1SN’T 1T  
TEREZI: TH4T SH3’D F1N4LLY SHOW H3R UGLY H34D SO TH4T 1 CAN KNOW 3X4CTLY WHO 1T 1S 1’M SUPPOS3D TO B3 L1V1NG UP TO  
TEREZI: 4ND TH3N SH3 WON’T 3V3N H3LP SORT OUT TH3 M3SS SH3 M4D3  
VRISKA: What a 8itch.  
VRISKA: You should punch her in the f8ce for me.  
TEREZI: H4H!  
TEREZI: JUST D3SS3RTS, 1S TH4T 1T TH3N??  
VRISKA: I have a lot to thank her for.  
VRISKA: To thank you for.  
TEREZI: OH N4H  
TEREZI: SH3’S TH3 ON3 WHO S3NT JUN3 ON TH4T R1D1CULOUS R3TCON  
TEREZI: NOT M3  
VRISKA: 8ut you’re the one who was with me on the meteor.  
VRISKA: Without you there, I would have just gone right 8ack to Jack.  
VRISKA: Without you there, I would have gotten everyone killed.  
VRISKA: Even if it stings to admit it.  
VRISKA: Plus, you m8de it worth it to 8e on that meteor.  
VRISKA: Who else could have gotten me through Karkat’s inane rants?  
TEREZI: OR MOCK3D H1M OP3NLY W1TH YOU  
VRISKA: Or mocked him openly with me.

Terezi reaches towards the door to the new universe. Lightning crackles between her and the door, and the world around them starts to go dark.

VRISKA: W8!  
VRISKA: W8.  
VRISKA: 8efore we go through, I just want you to know.  
VRISKA: I’ve never thought you were w8k.  
TEREZI: TH4T’S N1C3 OF YOU TO S4Y  
VRISKA: 8’m not just s8ying 8t.  
VRISKA: Wow, um, I didn’t think 8’d 8e this nervous.  
VRISKA: 8ut the truth is 8’ve always looked up to you.  
VRISKA: For as long as I've known you, you've had a way of doing things that I can't even begin to wrap my mind around.  
VRISKA: It's actually, um.  
VRISKA: Really impressive.  
VRISKA: I thought you 8t to know that 8efore we go, um.  
VRISKA: Try to m8ke a life together?  
TEREZI: >:]  
TEREZI: WH3N 1 R3M3MB3R3D 3V3RYTH1NG FROM TH4T OTH3R T3R3Z1’S L1F3  
VRISKA: (Terezi), let’s call her.  
TEREZI: (T3R3Z1)  
TEREZI: SH3 D1DN’T G3T TO H4V3 YOU W1TH H3R ON TH3 M3T3OR  
TEREZI: 4ND FUCK D1D SH3 M1SS YOU  
TEREZI: BUT TH4T 4PP4R3NTLY W4SN’T TH3 3ND OF H3R STORY  
TEREZI: SH3 FOUND YOU 3V3NTU4LLY  
TEREZI: 1N 4 DR34M BUBBL3  
TEREZI: TH3Y GOT TO W4TCH 1T 4LL F4LL 4P4RT TOG3TH3R  
TEREZI: SH3 H4D F3LT 4 LOT L1K3 WH4T 1 DO TO B3 HON3ST  
TEREZI: 1NCOMPL3T3 TH4T 1S  
TEREZI: BUT 1N TH4T MOM3NT SH3 F3LT  
TEREZI: W3LL, COMPL3T3  
TEREZI: 1 THOUGHT 1 M1GHT F33L TH3 S4M3 S331NG YOU  
VRISKA: And do you?  
TEREZI: OF COURS3 NOT  
TEREZI: 1 SP3NT TH3 L4ST THR33 Y34RS PR3T3ND1NG L1K3 4LL MY PROBL3MS W3R3 SOLV3D B3C4US3 YOU W3R3 H3R3  
VRISKA: Oh.  
VRISKA: I see.  
TEREZI: DO YOU??  
TEREZI: B3C4US3 1 SUR3 4S H3LL DONT  
VRISKA: Okay, may8e you’re right.  
VRISKA: So wh8t????????  
TEREZI: WH4T DO YOU M34N SO WH4T  
TEREZI: SO 3V3RYTH1NG  
TEREZI: SO H3R3 YOU 4R3 4ND 1 H4V3 NO 1D34 WH4T TO M4K3 OF YOU  
TEREZI: 4ND 1 KNOW YOUR3 GO1NG TO TRY TO F1X 1T  
TEREZI: BUT WH4T 1F TH3R3S NOTH1NG L3FT TO F1X  
TEREZI: WH4T 1F 1 DON’T W4NT YOU TO F1X M3  
TEREZI: WH4T 1F 1 W4NT YOU TO L34V3 M3 4LON3 FOR ONC3 1N YOUR L1F3  
VRISKA:  
TEREZI: 1 D1DN’T M34N TH4T

It’s all Vriska can do to keep from breaking down crying on the spot. Her throat keeps opening and closing, and every other breath comes out broken. She tries to distract herself by thinking about someone else, anyone else. Aradia, maybe, lost to her for the rest of eternity just when they were given the chance to reconcile. Probably already headed into that black hole to dig into a secret that probably has no answer except for permanent imprisonment within the event horizon. Okay, maybe not her, maybe a happy memory, something that always works, finding the treasure chest with Mindfang’s journal in it! After a particularly good FLARP session. With Terezi. Oh.

Her chest heaves, and a tear wells up in her eye. She looks at Terezi and heaves again. The same tear pushes forward and rolls down her cheek. She collapses to the ground and grasps at the stone, but it doesn’t yield. Tear after tear falls off her face. She locks both of her arms to hold herself up and watches them splash on the ground. A voice that sounds like her own fills the air. A hand touches between the shoulders—

VRISKA: D8N’T F8CK8NG T8CH M8!

Vriska spins around and looks at the remnants of the Medium. It’s falling apart now. For real. The cracks in the sky form a full ring. The battle where Lord English was presumably killed is no longer distinguishable from any other broken piece of space. To one side is the black hole where the Green Sun used to be, pulling everything inwards. Behind her is a new life. A whole new way to live. And the person she wants to live it with. Who clearly doesn’t feel the same way.

But that’s okay, right? She’s made it on her own before, she can do it again. Fuck, she made it for sweeps worse than alone: stuck with a bitch of a lusus who wouldn’t get the fuck out of her head. All she’s got to do is that again. Right?

TEREZI: 1’M SORRY, VR1SK4  
VRISKA: Why?  
VRISKA: I’d rather 8e hurt 8y the truth than live a f8cking lie.  
TEREZI: TH4T’S NOT 1T  
TEREZI: TH3 TRUTH 1S 1 DO W4NT YOU TO M4K3 4LL OF TH1S GO 4W4Y  
TEREZI: 1N TH4T W4Y TH4T ONLY YOU C4N

Vriska looks back and sees Terezi sitting against the door. Her jetpack is gone, and her cane is propped up against the other side of the doorframe. She’s got one leg kicked forward, and her head is turned away, as if that makes it easier to say what she’s saying.

TEREZI: TH3 TRUTH 1S 1 KNOW YOU C4N’T  
TEREZI: 4ND M4YB3 1T’S 34S13R 1F YOU DON’T 3V3N TRY  
VRISKA: So that’s it then. All of this, everything we’ve 8een through. And this is the end?  
TEREZI: M4YB3  
VRISKA: Is that what you want?  
TEREZI: NO

Vriska turns over and sits up to face Terezi. Terezi is rubbing her thumb over the scratch on her coin. Up, then back down, then again. Occasionally, she switches it up by circling the edge of the coin, but she always comes back to the scratch.

VRISKA: I thought you threw that old coin away.  
TEREZI: NO  
TEREZI: NOT Y3T  
TEREZI: 1T ST1LL H3LPS M3 M4K3 H4RD D3C1S1ONS

Vriska crawls over to Terezi. She bumps Terezi’s outstretched leg, and Terezi pulls it in to compensate. Vriska sits back up and crosses her legs. This close, she can feel the heat coming off of her. A teal line stains each of her cheeks.

Vriska reaches up and brushes Terezi’s cheek, and Terezi leans into the touch. Then with one hand, Vriska grabs Terezi’s. With the other, she turns over the coin so that Terezi’s thumb rests on the good heads side.

VRISKA: What do you want from me, Terezi?  
TEREZI: HOW TH3 FUCK SHOULD 1 KNOW TH4T  
VRISKA: You’ve always 8een 8etter at reading people than me, you know that.  
TEREZI: H4H  
TEREZI: MYS3LF 1NCLUD3D YOU M34N  
VRISKA: Naturally.  
TEREZI: M4YB3 W3 SHOULD L3T TH3 CO1N D3C1D3  
VRISKA: Decide what?  
TEREZI: OUR FUTUR3  
VRISKA: You know what side it will land on.  
TEREZI: M4YB3 TH4T’S WH4T 1 W4NT  
VRISKA: Then do it.

Terezi flicks the coin out of her hand and past Vriska. Vriska pulls Terezi’s hand up to her own cheek. Terezi cups Vriska’s face, and Vriska smiles in response. Terezi smiles back. The coin lands good heads up, the way they both knew it would.

VRISKA: That was completely unnecessary, you know.  
TEREZI: 1 H4D TO G1V3 YOU 4 CH4NC3 TO SHOW OFF  
TEREZI: 1 D1DN’T G3T TO S33 YOU 1N 4CT1ON 4FT3R 4LL  
VRISKA: Trust me, it was overrated.  
TEREZI: W1TH YOU TH3R3??  
TEREZI: TH4T’S TH3 B1GG3ST L13 1’V3 H34RD 4LL N1GHT  
VRISKA: Okay, fine.  
VRISKA: It was kind of 8wesome.  
VRISKA: Can we go now?  
TEREZI: Y34H  
TEREZI: L3T’S GO  


**Author's Note:**

> I don't know why, but I really love the image of Terezi sitting against the door and Vriska on her hands and knees with her back to both of them. I hope I did it justice in-text.
> 
> Over time, you may notice my characters starting to incorporate more and more quintessentially southern sayings into their vocabularies. This is fine. This is normal. You do not need to be alarmed by this.
> 
> Umm, but seriously, I think this is my first time actually writing hurt/comfort? It's a lot of fun. It honestly wasn't really where I intended to go, but when I reached the outburst, I realized that that was the only way the characters would really act (at least at that instance), and so I was left to mop up the aftermath. It was pretty fun negl.


End file.
